Ultimate flourless brownies for two + Cookbook news!

Several months ago, my publishing team let me know about an exciting idea that Indigo had proposed for my two cookbooks. They’ve been so thrilled with your response to the books (as have I!) that they’ve created a special-edition OSG boxed set, available just before the holiday season kicks off. When they asked me I was like, hmm…let me think about it….YES!! Lol.

Shortly after, the mock-up arrived on my doorstep. It was like Christmas morning!

This one above is just the mock-up version…the pages are literally glued to the box by hand. The real thing will look even better, but I wanted to give you an idea. It makes such a gorgeous gift!

To keep this celebration going with FOOD (cuz you know that’s what we do), I’m happy to share today’s recipe— a rendition of my Ultimate Flourless Brownies with Magic No-Cook Caramel from Oh She Glows Every Day. I’ve had a lot of requests for one- or two-serving desserts, and many of you have told me that you love these brownies. Soooooo…it seemed like a no-brainer to start with this dessert. The brownies are vegan, grain-free, and oil-free, and they turn out wonderfully chewy, dense, and chocolaty. You can also make them soy-free simply by using a soy-free chocolate, such as Enjoy Life brand.

If you’re planning a quiet Halloween in with a pal, it would be a wonderful option. Heck, if you’re planning a wild night out, just make this earlier in the day. Actually, make them now….yes, make them right this second.

You can make one big brownie as I’ve done here using a 4-inch ramekin, or you can use two smaller 3-inch ramekins. A cupcake tin (with liners) also works! If you’re going to make smaller portions, I recommend baking them for less time as they’ll bake much faster.

5 from 12 reviews

Ultimate Flourless Brownies for Two

Vegan, gluten-free, grain-free

By Angela Liddon

This two-serving brownie is fudgy and dense with a firm edge, and thanks to the almond butter base, there isn’t a stitch of flour! The nuttiness of the almonds and chopped dark chocolate enhance its rich chocolate flavour. This is a fantastic dessert when you want a decadent treat without being taunted by a pan of leftover brownies in the kitchen. (But if you do, see the full-sized brownie and caramel recipes in my second cookbook, Oh She Glows Every Day.)

Yield2 servings

Prep time15 Minutes

Cook time23 Minutes

Total time38 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the brownies:

1 1/2 teaspoons (4 g) ground flax

1 tablespoon (15 mL) water

1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) fine sea salt

Scant 1/8 teaspoon (0.5 mL) baking soda

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 mL) pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons (5 g) arrowroot starch

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (17 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons (28 g) natural cane sugar

1/4 cup (60 mL) natural smooth almond butter

2 tablespoons (20 g) chopped dark chocolate or choc. chips

For the Magic No-Cook Caramel:

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 mL) coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons (30 mL) pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon (15 mL) raw cashew butter

1 teaspoon (5 mL) coconut nectar or pure maple syrup*

A good pinch of fine sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and place the oven rack in the middle position. Lightly grease a 4-inch ramekin (or two small, 3-inch ramekins) with oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the ground flax and water. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Add the cocoa powder and sugar; stir with a spoon until combined. The batter will be very thick.

Stir in the almond butter and chopped chocolate until thoroughly combined. Mix the dough for 30 to 60 seconds, until you can’t see any “ribbons” of almond butter in the dough.

Scoop the dough into the prepared ramekin(s). Press down on the dough with your fingers until even and smooth.

Place the ramekin(s) directly onto the rack, and bake for about 22 to 25 minutes, until the brownie has risen nicely, but is still soft to the touch. When it’s ready, the middle will still look a bit underdone. A toothpick inserted into the middle won’t come out clean. Shortly after removing from the oven, the middle will sink, but this is all normal. Pinky swear!

Place the ramekin(s) on a cooling rack for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the Magic No-Cook Caramel Sauce. Add all of the caramel sauce ingredients into a mini food processor, and process until smooth. Or you can simply add it to a small bowl and beat it with an electric mixer. Transfer to a small jar.

You can serve the brownie in the ramekin, or you can slide a knife around the edge and carefully pop it onto a plate. Serve it with a scoop of ice cream (totally optional), a drizzle of caramel sauce, and a small pinch of coarse sea salt. I like to scatter on some toasted walnuts for a little crunch, too.

Any leftover brownie (I doubt you’ll have any, though!) can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. You can also wrap the cooled brownie individually in tin foil and place it into an airtight container or bag in the freezer for 3 to 4 weeks. If you have leftover caramel sauce, it’ll keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or so.

Tips:

* The coconut nectar has a slightly tangy flavour which is why it works well in this caramel sauce, but if you don’t have any on hand feel free to use maple syrup in its place. It’ll work just fine!

The caramel sauce makes 1/4 cup (60 mL). If you don't want that much, you can cut the recipe in half and whisk everything by hand in a small bowl.

Hi Lucy, My guess is that they might be a bit bitter without the cane sugar. My suggestion would be to taste the brownie dough after you mix it all up, and if it’s too bitter maybe add a bit more maple syrup?

I know your US readers might be disappointed, but I am so excited to order this. I know a few Canadian bloggers who exclusively do US giveaways and specials and I am so glad you’re working with Canadian companies as well as American ones!! <3 Keep spreading the love around. Congrats on the box set!

What a wonderful idea to have a holiday box set! I thought maybe the news was a third cookbook already ;) and these brownies, oh my goodness, can’t wait to try. Almond butter is really pricey where I live, do you think peanut butter would work? Or might it not be runny enough? Thank you!

Hey Alexandra, I have heard that peanut butter works (peanut butter cup brownies, anyone?!). I might suggest adding a tiny bit of oil along with it in case it is drier…maybe 1/2-1 tsp coconut oil or grapeseed oil? Just guessing though!

Hi Lauren, I’ve heard that peanut butter works, but I haven’t tried it yet myself. I also think sunflower seed butter could work. If the butters seem a bit dry, I would consider adding a teaspoon of coconut oil into the mix. :)

Hi Angela,
First of all…thank you for all of your wonderful vegan recipes!
I have a question….I have your app but many of the recipes aren’t on there, including this one. Is there more than one app? Thanks, Kathy

Hey Kathy,
Oh I can definitely help! Yes, all of the recipes I add to the blog are also added into the app. Sounds like your app just needs a little “reboot” ;)

The steps below should fix the issue you are having:

I recommend you are on wifi for these steps as it will re-download all the recipe images.

Remove the app from memory by double pressing the home button and swiping up on the Oh She Glows app (or you can restart your phone).
Open Safari and go to the URL “ohsheglows://forcerefresh”. It will ask you if you want to open the Oh She Glows app. Tap on Okay. Once the app opens it should start downloading the recipes again (you should see a message at the bottom and the soup pot icon in the bottom left corner) – if it does not you may need to retry this step.
Also, go to the bundles page and scroll to the bottom and tap “Restore Purchases” and enter you password once it prompts. This will bring back any bundle recipes that you’ve previously unlocked.
Please let me know if this works for you! Thanks so much for purchasing the app!

Congratulations! The boxed set looks awesome. I have both your books – they have really shaken up our cooking, in the best way (LOVE your chickpea “chicken recipe”) but this boxed set is PERFECT for Xmas gifts, etc.

Hey Kary, I know in my previous trials with the original recipe sunflower seed butter worked great! Cashew butter might too…it tends to be a bit thicker or drier though so you may want to add a teaspoon of oil along with it. I’ve also heard peanut butter works, but I haven’t tried it. Hope this helps!

Dear Angela, I enjoy looking at your food-posts so much, but at the moment it’s a little bitter-sweet, because my 4 month-old breastfed baby seems to get gassy from so many things I love to eat, like lentils and chocolate. Did you experience this as well when breastfeeding? It’s so frustrating, I would LOVE to make your lentil-dishes or chocolate brownies right now. People often ask me if I don’t miss dairy or meat, and no, I don’t, but ask me to go without lentils and chocolate (and broccoli and a few other things) and I’m DYING! Looking at your beautiful pictures is a small consolation though:)

Hey Rachel, I went through this with both of my babies. It’s really hard. The good news is that it went away for me once their digestive systems developed a bit more (I think by 6 months, it’s foggy)…I hope it improves for you soon!

Omg! Omg! I just made these (sans caramel sauce) and I’m SO excited, I can barely type! They are the absolute best vegan brownies ever!! Decadent! Chocolately! Chewy centre! Perfection! Can’t use enough exclamation marks to do this recipe justice!! I used cornstarch and baked them in 2, 3-inch ramekins for just shy of 20 minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Angela!!!

Hey Alyssa, It sounds like we’re on the same wavelength…I made apple crumble bars recently for the fam (sadly they were too crumbly and need work, haha), I’ll have to try vegan butter in this caramel though..I can imagine it’s so delicious. Hope you enjoy the brownies if you try them out!

Hey Alli, Thank you! You can often find arrowroot powder in the gluten-free section of the grocery store. But I have heard that cornstarch works too, from other blog readers. That tends to be quite easy to find! Hope you enjoy the brownies :)

I would love t if you made another cookbook. I have both of yours already. Maybe one that features recipes for all the holidays like Father’s Day and birthdays and Christmas. Etc. Or just anything. I love your books so selfishly I just want more.

Oh I have to try these asap! They look delish! I’ve recently been experimenting with dessert recipes that have secret healthy ingredients in them and I came across a recipie for vegan chickpea blondies! They were pretty damn good and I realised how versatile chickpeas are in desserts – would be great to see your spin on chickpea baked desserts!

Hi Angela,
Congrats on the books! I will have to find a way to get them over here in Guatemala :) I have a question… My husband is on a diet to treat an autoimmune condition so he can’t have anything but just a little bit of honey. Back in the day, he loved brownies so much that he even called himself a brownie snob jajaja. His Bday is coming up so I want to bake this as surprise but I’m afraid that if I don’t use sugar and maple syrup they won’t taste as good. What do you thinkÇ

Hi Italia, Oh happy birthday to your husband! Thanks for your congrats. :)
I wouldn’t know what to recommend if you need to leave out the sweetener and only use a bit of honey, unfortunately. It would probably involve a lot of experimentation! If you try anything please let me know.

This was wonderful! Fudgy and dense are perfect descriptions. I actually left the baking soda out and put the brownie in a mini loaf pan the dehydrator for about 10 hours, instead of the oven, since I already had something else going in the dehydrator. I also used coconut sugar in place of the natural cane sugar, in the same amount. It turned out great! I’m always (pleasantly) surprise by what a big effect such a small amount of chocolate chips have.

This was absolutely delicious! I am trying really hard not to eat the other one right now. I skipped the caramel but added some leftover crushed candy cane from your Peppermint Crunch Cookies. Both recipes are genius. Thank you for both! More small batch recipes like this one would be wonderful.